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On the evening of 5 April, a lorry rammed through the front gate of an entertainment outlet in Taman Shamelin, Cheras.
Thirty-four men poured through the breach, armed with weapons, sticks and stones, and proceeded to damage property inside.
A minute-long video went viral before the day was out.
Six days later, all 34 stood before Magistrate Faezahnoor Hassan at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court.
By the time they left, the most any of them would pay was RM3,000.
What The Law Allows vs. What The Court Imposed
The men were charged under Section 148 of the Penal Code — rioting while armed.
The provision carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
The court imposed fines.
Thirty-two of the accused, aged between 21 and 57, were fined RM3,000 each, in default of a four-month jail term.
Two others — Alvin Yong Kai Zhe and Chong Yu Heng, both 19 — were fined RM2,000 each, in default of three months’ jail.
“A Second Chance”
Deputy public prosecutor Nur Farhana Mohamad Poad urged the court to impose “a just sentence as a deterrent,” noting the scale of the group involved.
Defence counsel Mohammad Arifin Abdul Wahab, representing all 34 accused, asked for leniency — specifically, a fine rather than imprisonment.
He cited their guilty pleas, their clean records, and their remorse.
The men are seeking a second chance. This is their first offence, and they apologise for their mistake.
The court agreed.
The Silence in the Statement of Facts
The statement of facts confirmed the mechanics of the incident — the lorry, the breach, the weapons, the damage.
What it did not contain, and what no party in court addressed, was why.
Why did 34 men organise, arm themselves, load into a lorry, and drive to a KTV in Cheras on a Sunday?
Under Section 148, motive is not a required element of the charge — the act of rioting while armed is sufficient for conviction
The case was closed in six days.
On Friday (10 April), that provision produced a fine that, for most of the 34 men, amounts to the average monthly wage for Malaysians.
Whether that constitutes the “just sentence as a deterrent” the prosecution asked for is a question the court record does not answer — much like the question of motive.
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READ MORE: [Watch] Scenes From A Hong Kong Gangster Film — Except This Happened In Cheras
Parts of this story have been sourced from The Star.
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In Malaysia, The Going Rate For Armed Rioting — KTV Or Otherwise — Starts From RM2,000 Each
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